Bali hotels help Lombok win back foreign tourists
By I Wayan Juniarta
DENPASAR (JP): Over the past few weeks, several major hotels in Bali have helped promote tourism in neighboring Lombok, which went back to square one in the wake of anti-Christian rioting in January.
The Balinese hotels want to help tourism recover in Lombok by offering holiday packages to both islands.
Lombok's tourism was devastated when rioting forced thousands of frightened Christians, foreign tourists and Chinese Indonesians to flee the island. Hotels reported a zero occupancy rate for weeks afterwards.
Hotel Sheraton Nusa Indah in Nusa Dua, Bali, for example, helps out by offering holiday packages provided by Sheraton Senggigi in Lombok. Sheraton Senggigi cut its room rate to Rp 350,000 per night from the normal Rp 750,000.
International travel agents get a free one night stay and have to pay only US$65 for each following night. Foreign tourists traveling with travel agents are offered free dinner during their stay at Sheraton Senggigi.
"We are seeing the occupancy rate rise," said Lisa Halim, the communications director for Sheraton Nusa Indah. "Two weeks ago Sheraton Senggigi's occupancy rate was only 3 percent, but now it has risen to 15 percent to 20 percent. More foreign tourists have queried about going to Lombok."
Brany F. Dewi, the guest relations manager of Novotel Tanjung Benoa, Bali, also expressed a similar optimism. He said the occupancy rate of Novotel Kute in Lombok had risen from 3 percent to 12 percent thanks to the various packages the two hotels had jointly promoted.
The two Novotels offer a package called Bali-Lombok Rhapsody. Room rates are reduced by up to 40 percent and guests get a 20 percent discount for the buffet dinner, drinks and spa treatment. They also get souvenirs from the hotels.
Guests who stay at Novotel Tanjung Benoa, Bali, and Novotel Kute, Lombok, for a total period of at least four days are entitled to a free Lombok-Bali trip by Mabua Express ferry, Brany said.
The cooperation among hotels of the same group was spurred out of the concern that Bali and Lombok are interconnected.
"When rioting broke out in Lombok, Bali also bore the brunt. It is the close proximity that makes us stick together," Lisa said.
The reverse is also true. When political rioting hit Bali last October, tourism in Lombok was also affected.
The cooperation between hotels on the two islands was established in the wake of Bau Nyale, a traditional ritual in Lombok on Feb. 25. The ceremony on the beach usually attracts huge crowds of tourists.
This year the ceremony, although watched by much less tourists, proceeded as usual. West Nusa Tenggara Governor Harun Al Rasyid took part in one of the ceremonies to show that the island was safe.
Tourism has gradually returned to Lombok. Djodi S. Soesilo, chief of the West Nusa Tenggara tourism office, attributed it to several countries lifting the travel advisory. The countries he mentioned were The Netherlands, Germany, Australia and the United States.
Four other countries advised their citizens against visiting Lombok in the wake of the Jan. 17 rioting in the capital of Mataram and the surrounding area. They were Taiwan, Japan, Italy and Switzerland.
Many applauded the recent hotel managers' decision to move the venue of their conference of Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 from Lampung to Lombok -- a move which intended to show the world that Lombok was safe.
The media campaign, aimed at assuring the world that Lombok is peaceful, will intensify in the near future. This week, the West Nusa Tenggara provincial government is scheduled to invite tour operators and journalists for that purpose.
Some hotels in Lombok have also planned to invite foreign travel writers and journalists to see Lombok for themselves. The government will also send a delegation to an international conference in Berlin this month to boost the tourism campaign.
Djodi said he was optimistic that if the campaign succeeds, tourism in Lombok would recover in two to three months.
"This month, we expect 800 tourists to come to Lombok on a cruise ship," he said.
Tourism has become West Nusa Tenggara's economic backbone. Djodi reckoned that about 8,000 people depend on this sector for their livelihood, and another 50,000 indirectly benefit from the business. It is the largest income earner for West Lombok regency and the second largest for the West Nusa Tenggara province.